tuber

IPA/ˈtjuːbə(r)/
KK[tˈubɚ]IPA/ˈtuːbər/

tuber — noun

  • tubersingular
  • tubersplural

1. an underground part of a plant that swells up as it fills with stored food. New

1.nounB2
Definition

an underground part of a plant that swells up as it fills with stored food. New shoots can grow from buds on its surface. Potatoes and yams are the most familiar examples.

Example

Kofi dug up several large tubers from the vegetable patch in his garden.

collocation: dig up tubers

Potatoes, yams, and sweet potatoes are all examples of edible tubers.

listing common edible tubers

Common collocations
  • dig up tubers
  • plant tubers
  • edible tubers
  • potato tubers
  • yam tubers
  • tuber crops
Synonyms
  • bulb

    A bulb (like an onion or garlic) is a different kind of underground storage organ made of layered leaves, not solid fleshy tissue like a tuber.

  • corm

    A corm (like a taro root) is a solid underground stem base, similar to a tuber but typically shorter and rounder; the terms overlap in everyday cooking.

Usage Note

In everyday conversation, 'tuber' describes any thick underground plant part used for food storage, such as a potato or yam. Botanists make a finer distinction between stem tubers (potatoes) and root tubers (sweet potatoes, cassava).

Common Mistakes

A carrot is a tuber.
A carrot is a root vegetable, not a tuber.
Carrots are taproots, not tubers; they store food differently and do not grow new plants from the root itself.
I ate a tuber for dinner.
I ate baked potatoes, which are a type of tuber, for dinner.
'Tuber' is a category name, not the name of a specific food.

Word family

  • tuberous
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Tubers, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, and roots are all underground plant parts, but they differ in structure and function. A tuber (potato) is a thick, solid stem or root that stores food. A bulb (onion) consists of layered fleshy leaves wrapped around a short stem. A corm (taro) looks like a bulb but is solid stem tissue, not layered leaves. A rhizome (ginger) grows horizontally underground as a creeping stem with nodes. Roots (carrots) are true roots, not stems, and anchor the plant while absorbing water. In cooking, these terms are often used loosely — a 'yam' may be a tuber or a corm depending on the variety.

bulb ↗corm ↗rhizomeroot ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Etymology

LatinEnglish

The word 'tuber' comes directly from Latin 'tuber', meaning a swelling, lump, or bump. It entered English in the mid-1600s as a botanical term for the swollen underground parts of plants. The same Latin root also gave us 'tubercle' (a small swelling) and 'tuberculosis' (the disease named for the small lumps it causes in the lungs).

First known use

1668

1668, in the meaning defined at sense 1a Noun (2)